The Darker Side of Life
by WindowChild
Summary: This is Nico's story. It starts about a year after the end of tLO, and goes through his experience with high school: friends, romance, and attempting to be normal. A myriad of pairings and pairing references.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: What can I say? I love Nico. I just do. And so, I am writing this story. *winces* Okay, yes. I do not need any more chapter stories. I already have them in the double digits, but I want to try this. Also, I am trying it in first person. That's new for me, and I don't generally like it. My thinking has always been that, while we can play with the characters as much as we want, it should only be the authors who get to write their thoughts that way. But... I'm going to try it. And if it sucks, I can always delete it, right? Thanks for reading!

"No."

"Nico..."

I felt my eyes heat up, the way they do when I'm starting to get mad. My shoulders feel all tight, and my stomach squirms, and I can actually feel the temperature rising under my eyebrows. I don't know if I get that from my dad or what, but I can always tell when I'm getting mad.

"Percy," I said, trying to stay calm. "I know you and Annabeth and everyone else are trying school this year, but I barely manage to fit in here." I wouldn't look at him. It still felt weird talking about all of this stuff with someone, even if it was only Percy.

"Listen Nico," he said, sitting beside me on the cabin steps. I fixed him with a glare, hating him for trying to act like he was my brother or something. Even if he is my cousin and (secretly) one of my favorite demigods, it still was a little too much for me. "Next year, Annabeth and I are going to be in college. Hopefully, anyway," he said, laughing uncomfortably. For a second his eyes flashed away, probably looking for Annabeth, but then he focused again. "And I know Grover's going to be here and everything, but I still think... well, shouldn't you try to find..." He sat there, trying to come up with the right word, but I didn't let him finish.

"Who put you in charge?" I snapped at him, I know I did, but I still think he deserved it.

"No one, no one," Percy said, backtracking. They all think I hate it when people remind me that I'm younger than them, but it isn't true. I only hate it when people tell me what to do. "I'm not in charge of you Nico, you know that. I only want to help." He squirmed, and I felt a little guilty. The responsibility thing is new for him, even if he did manage to win a battle and all. He was probably just trying to be considerate. "But Nico... It's not just the fact that we're leaving. Don't you think you might want to go to school so that, well, you could get a job when you're older?"

I raised my eyebrow, more confused than anything else. Percy was lecturing me about jobs? This was probably Annabeth's idea. "You're actually talking to me about this? What, did Annabeth threaten you?"

I watched his cheeks darken a little bit and felt satisfied. "Well, she's made me think about my future, and it's been helpful."

"Did she tell you to say that?"

"Nico - "

"No."

"I think you're - "

"No." I knew I was being stubborn, but I'm a son of Hades. It's my Gods given right to act that way sometimes.

"Will you just listen?" His green eyes flashed, the way they did when he was impatient. I could tell he was bored, probably wanting to go kiss his girlfriend some more. "Unless you want to stay around here for your whole life, which I doubt you do since you'll barely talk to your cousins, you have to think of something to do with your time. It doesn't have to be a huge thing, and you don't even have to go to college if you don't want, but don't you think you'll miss out if you don't go to high school?"

"Middle school," I muttered, hoping he wouldn't hear. "Did you miss it?" I challenged. "You might be going now, but you missed a lot of time before. And you hate school."

"That doesn't mean it's not important."

"You're only going because Annabeth told you to. You'll do anything she says." Even if I was being mean right there, he shouldn't have talked to me that way. Just because he was a hero and had a girlfriend and was almost eighteen, he couldn't boss me around like some little kid.

"Well," he said, sighing, "we're not talking about me. Nico, I actually think this might be good for you. I know you say you like camp," he paused, "and that's great, but you should see more of the world now. There aren't too many monsters around anymore, so you won't have to worry, and think of all the good things..."

"Like what?" I was honestly curious to hear his answer.

He struggled with this, and I stared at the sky while I waited. The gods had been pretty calm lately. No storms, no unnecessary deaths. It couldn't last, though. This placid happiness. I wouldn't let myself think that I could feel this way for long. If I did, it would only end up disappointing me.

"Girls!" he burst, a bit too loudly, clearly proud of the thought.

"It took you that long to come up with girls as a reason I should go?" I scowled at him, for once proud that scowls were my speciality.

"What, you aren't interested in dating?"

Unbidden images of Rachel came to mind, a few with... rather exaggerated areas, that were, um, uncovered. She'd never go for me though, for a million reasons though, and nobody else really caught my eye. "No," I said, really not wanting to discuss this with him.

He sighed. "Nico, come on. If you don't even go to high school, what do you expect to do with your life?"

"First of all, Annabeth didn't go to school, and everyone thinks she's going to be an architect."

"Well yeah, but she's different - "

"And SECOND," I shouted, ignoring the fact that he'd half-attacked my intelligence, "did it ever occur to you that I don't really have plans for my future?"

This made him go all quiet again. I waited, wondering why I felt cold all of a sudden. Camp Half Blood doesn't have weather, and I'd never really felt cold before anyway. Wasn't in my nature.

"... What do you mean?" he asked, frowning. Frowns look out of place on Percy. I'm not saying he's a smiley, happy guy, but he doesn't usually look grim either.

I shrugged. "I was on the run with my sister, for my entire life. Before then I was too young, and I don't remember much about it anyway. And after Bianca..." I inhaled, forcing it the word as impassively as I could, "died, there wasn't much time for "future" stuff."

"Oh," he said, sounding surprised. He looked sad too, as if I'd greatly disappointed him. Well, sorry Percy. Unfortunately having Hades as a father doesn't really inspire one to be a ballerina. ... Not that I would have chosen that, but you get my point.

"Why?" I asked, suddenly curious. "Did you have dreams?"

He shrugged. "Mostly stupid ones. But yeah, I had them." He grinned, gesturing around. "Some of them even came through.

"Oh boy..." I muttered, rolling my eyes. Of course he would pick this moment to get all sappy.

"Think about it, okay?" he said, standing up. "You have a few months anyway."

"Whatever," I said, knowing I would never go. Never go to school, never make normal friends. Like I said, I'm a son of Hades. 'Normal' isn't in my blood.

A/N: Okay, reviews are more important than ever, because I REALLY do need your thoughts on this. I might delete it still, I'm not sure how I feel about it, so you'll have to give me your opinion. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm despicable, I know. I really did not mean to leave this story unattended for so long. Many thanks for the reviews last chapter :).

"Hey Nico."

"Oh, hey..." My cheeks warmed unpleasantly, and I turned sideways to watch her pass. Gods. Rachel, was... something else. "You're going swimming?" If it was possible to punch yourself, I might have done it then. She was a wearing a polka-dotted bikini - of course she was going swimming.

"Uh-huh. Want to come with?" She extended her hand, and I had this quick thought that maybe she wanted me to take it. I started to reach out, though, and that's when she moved it back. Dammit.

"Um, okay." I couldn't tell if I sounded too eager or not. One time, when Percy made me go to a check up at the doctor's, I read an article about that. In addition to crap about muscle toner and make out positions, it said you shouldn't sound so eager when girls ask you to do stuff. I pretended like I didn't care, but that one piece of advice stuck with me. I'm not really such an eager guy, so my enthusiastic moments really come through.

"Cool." I raced to her side, and that's when I noticed the little um, slit between her... gods, I can't say it out loud. Not to you people, anyway. Holy Rhea, mother of the gods - I'd only seen that in my imagination, before. And now I was going to go swimming with her? Like that? - Oh wait...

"Um, uh, Rachel... one problem..." I stared down at the grass, hoping she wouldn't see me blush. "I have to go get a bathing suit." Never mind that I didn't have one. Gods, I thought only Percy could be so stupid. Why the Hades did I lose my mind whenever I was around her?

She frowned at me, and said, "Wait, but you're a guy right?" Uh... "I mean - I mean," she choked back laughter, and I pretended to do the same. "I mean, I know you're a guy." She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. "But can't you just wear your boxers?"

The skull pair I bought on a whim last month? "You know, I'd rather not get them wet..." Why not, I wanted to ask myself. What the Hades is so special about your boxers that you can't swim in them? I can be such an idiot, sometimes, it reminds me that I'm related to Percy. "I'll just ran, and, um, get a pair..."

I dashed away as fast as I could, hoping Percy would have a spare pair. I mean, he's son of Poseidon. You'd think he'd be in good supply. "Percy, Percy!" I ran so hard, my chest felt like it would crack open my chest.

"Mmmm." I heard the sound of fishing breaking the water's surface, and I winced. That only meant one thing. "Nico..." Percy said, hastily wiping his mouth. "I thought you'd, um, gone out for the day."

"Hey Nico..." Annabeth peered up from Percy's pillows, and I shut my eyes. I can't believe I used to have a crush on her; now it would be like crushing on a sister. Or a mom. Yuck.

"Are you dressed?" I asked, maybe a little louder than necessary.

Something hit me on the head. "Yes, she's dressed." Percy sounded angry for a second, but then he laughed. "Anyway, what do you need?" I figured it would be okay to look, so I squinted at him. "I need a bathing suit," I replied, bracing myself for the mockery.

"To swim in?"

"Uh-huh."

"In the water?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh my Gods," Percy said, exaggerating the words. "Annabeth, it must be the apocalypse."

"Do I need to tell her..." I tried to think of a good blackmail story, but there honestly aren't any. Percy's a pretty clean guy; or at least, I don't know any of his dirtier moments. "Ugh, Percy, just hand over a swim suit!"

"Any particular reason?" Percy asked. But he went to get me one anyway, so I figured I could fake it.

"Uh... I need the exercise." I avoided Annabeth's eyes, because I could tell she thought she knew something.

"You know who else is swimming today?" she asked, taking just long enough a pause to scare me.

"Who?" I asked, already on the defensive.

"Rachel."

Percy turned around, a big grin on his face. I swear, if I'd been bigger, I would have hit him."Nico, do you like her?"

"Shh... leave him alone, Percy," Annabeth said.

"You like her, don't you?" I couldn't help but notice that the swimsuit he'd picked looked a little... big... in some areas. What can I say? Being a child of one of the Big Three doesn't mean I inherited all of my dad's, um, bigness. Don't ask me how I know that.

"Percy!" Annabeth scolded, giving him a little slap on the arm. "Leave him alone. Anyway, Nico, if you like her, that's up to you." She smiled smugly, and I remembered that she hated Rachel, once upon a time. "But you know, she goes to boarding school in the fall. I don't think - "

"Bye," I muttered, letting the cabin door slam behind me.

"Wait up, Nico!" I let Percy find me on the steps, not trudging more than a few steps. "Here's the suit."

"Thanks."

"Just... don't get your hopes up about the Rachel thing. She's the Oracle, okay? It makes things tough on her."

"Yeah, I know." I suck at picking girls who can actually go out with me.

"And... you really should think about the school thing."

I stalked away, moving in the direction of my cabin so I could change. Would he ever stop trying to be my father? I mean, clearly, my dad wasn't the best. I cringed at the thought of talking about girls with him. But still... it wasn't like Percy could replace that. I don't know why, but it really pissed me off. He wasn't even an adult yet, technically - he shouldn't have treated me like some little brother.

Wearing the suit just depressed me. Putting aside the fact that it didn't really fit me... I had never noticed the skimpiness of my chest. Were abs supposed to be all flat? No, right? That meant they weren't abs. Gods, and I so hated the thought of working out... I was Nico di Angelo, no way could I spend an hour on a treadmill. Feeling pretty low about myself, I headed back down to the lake. I was probably too depressed to even flirt properly; if Rachel hadn't left yet, that is.

"Hey Nico." She was in the water. While it obscured her chest, sadly, it made her hair spread out in such a pretty way... like a goddess, I thought happily. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah," I replied, maybe a bit too quickly. "Everything's great." I slid into the water, ignoring the way the cold split my skin. Once I was in, she'd stop seeing my puny muscles, I told myself.

"You sure?"

"Uh, yes..." Suddenly things felt a bit too cold. I looked down, and... oh gods, where was Percy's suit? "Um, um..."

"What's wrong?" She glanced at me, at the direction of my gaze, and I watched the realization crack against her face. Like Apollo pulling the sun across the sky, she stifled a giggle in slow motion. "Did - did you lose something, Nico?" she asked, polite as can be.

Mortified, I wondered if opening my mouth would produce anything but a stutter. Probably not. "I - I -"

"Hey, I'm a pretty good swimmer," she said, "want me to get it for you? If I can't, we can always go ask Percy."

Suddenly I wanted Annabeth to teach me those Greek curses, just so I could shout them at the sky. Why couldn't one day go by without something terrible happening to me?

"Is it below you?" she asked me.

I forced myself to nod, hoping she wouldn't swim too close. It's not like I had that much of a chance with her anyway, and if I she saw certain things... it might disappoint her. That's all I was saying.

"Don't worry about it," she said, popping up in front of my nose. "I'll have to tell you about the time I lost my bikini top at my school's beach day." Yes, she would have to tell me that story, some day. Feeling slightly cheered, I forced a smile and let her swim down below me. I wished I could have gone myself, but honestly, I probably would have sunk. Swimming is one of those things - one of those many, many things - that doesn't come easily to the son of Hades.

After a second she came back up, the suit in her hands. "Here you go," she said, sounding proud of her diving abilities. I took it from her and put it on, remembering to thank her at the last second.

"So... you want to hear the story?" she asked.

"About your bikini?" Gah, again with the eagerness. I would have to work on it.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Okay, sure."

"Come on," she said, "Let's go to the shore." Then, because her presence wasn't enough to make me lose it, she took my hand. As happy as it made me, it also made me a little nervous. The lake water had made my hand all grimy. Still, when we climbed up, she didn't let go. That had to mean something. Right?

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! :D Reviews would be delightful.


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